Improvement in revolving-breech fire-arms



J. ELLS.

Revlver.

Patented Aug...], 854.

No. A11,419.

s G S s n. .w w

NlETERS. FHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D CA '-all the works of the lock being removed.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSIAH ELLS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN REVOLVlNG-BREECH FIRE-ARMS.

'Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 11,419, dated August 1, 1854.

To all lwhom it may concern:

luseful Improvements in Revolving-Breech Fire-Arms, applicable to guns, rides, and pistols; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification, and

'referred to therein by letters of reference, the same letter in each drawing or ligure being employed to designate a similar part of the pistol.

My improvements consist in the use of a vi- 'brating stud in the trigger, in combination with a hammer with a chamfered or beveled edge, Iand with a notch near the extremity of its toe,

which is applicable to all kinds of repeating lire-arms, by means of which, by simply pull- -ing the trigger, the hammer is raised to fullcockvor red at pleasure, the stud yieldinglat- 'erally to allow of the descent of the hammer 'and recoveringfits position on the toe of the hammer for repeated action; also, in the use of a double spring to the trigger, for the purposes hereinafter described; also, in the mode of locking the rotating breech at the moment of firing, hereinafter described.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, Figure 1 is a sectional side view of a revolving pistol constructed with myimprovements, excepting that the locking-bolt is removed to exhibit the other parts more clearly. Fig. 2 is a side view of a similar pistol,.exhib iting the several partsot' the lock in their position when the trigger is drawn back and the pistol is cocked ready for ring. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the stock and lock-frame of the pistol,- showing the reverse side of the interior of the lock, the several parts being in their position when the trigger is fully drawn back, immediately after ring and before the trigger is released. Fig. -1 is asectional view of the lock-frame, with all the' parts removed excepting the locking-bolt and its spring. Fig.

5 is a view of the underside of the lock-frame, In Fig. l the parts of the lock are in a state of restin the position they occupy before the tri gger is pulled. In Fig. 2 the hammer is raised by the action of the vibrating studon the cam-y shaped toc of the hammer and is at full-cock, and the cam-shoulder of the trigger, pressing the level face of the locking-bolt against the squared surface of the neck of the revolving chamber, locks it in its proper position. The slightest touch on 'the trigger would now fire the pistol. In Fig. 3 the hammer has fallen, andthe trigger, it' released, would instantly regain its position for repeating the re. Fig. .6isa perspective viewof the hammer, designed to show more clearly the chamfered edge, against which the vibrating 'stud on the trigger works. trigger, exhibiting the position of the vibrating stud and of the shoulder on which the trigger-spring rests. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the locking-bolt.

In the several drawings, a is the stock of the pistol; b is the lock plate, constructed in the ordinary manner; c is the barrel; d is thel rotating chambered breech, which are constructed and connected together in the manner described in the specification accompanying Letters Patent of the United States granted to me onthe 25th-April, 1854, and which I need not here more particularly describe.

'I he spindle e passes through the exact center of the rotating chambered breech d, which revolves around it. The mode of fastening the barrel and breech to the frame of the pistol is, however, somewhatdifferent to that described in the specification attached to my former patent. The lock-plate b, being of the shape shown in Fig. 4, does not extend as far .as the bracket lz of the barrel c, but has a projecting pin, g, which enters into a corresponding groove in the pistol-frame. It of the barrel,bein g attached to the rotating breech by the tubular extension and sustained by the spindle, as described in my former patent, is fastened to the lock-plate b by a screw, s, which may readily be removed, when the barrel and rotating breech may at once be taken apart.

The shape and construction of the rotating breech d are seen in Fig. 2 andin sectionin Fig. 1. The neck of the breech enters into a circular recess in the lock-plate around the base of the spindle. (Shown clearly in Fig. 4.)

At the extremity of the neck of the rotating breech are'ratchets t' z', equal in number to the number of chambers in the breech. These Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the The bracket hollow'ed stock of the pistol.

ratchels or projecting points need not project far, being only intended to catch against the point tf the finger 7c, which operates, as hereinafter described, to rotate the breech. Near the extremity of the neck of the rotatingbreech c the circumference ot' the neck, which elsewhere is circular, is of the shape shown atlin Fig. 2, with flattened sides, the number of sides being the same as the number ot' chambers in the breech, that portion of the rotating breech thus forming a sort of polygonal cylinder, so that a section of that portion of the neck at right angles to the axis of the chambered breech in a pistol with six chambers would give a regular hexagon, there beingone tiat side immediately opposite cach chamber in the breech.

The several pieces of the lock are shown (with the exception of the locking-bolt) in Fig. l, the lockingbolt with its'spring being shown in Fig. 4. The reverse side ofthe several parts is shown in Fig. 3.

m is the hammer, which turns on the hammer-pin a. p is the mainspring attached to the lock-frame and passing up through the The extremity of the mainspriug rests ou a friction-roll, a, at

the heel of the hammer, which forces it down when released from the trigger. The under side of the hammcris broad and curved, and comes to a point, or nearly so, at the toe.` The front edge of the hammer is chamfered or beveled, and from being broad at the base gradually narrows to an edge at the top of the re .cess in the side of thehammer, (see Figs. 3 and 6,) made to allow of the passage of the trigger.

The trigger o is ot the shape shown in Fig. 7. It works in the lock on the trigger-pin a2. Near the point the trigger isreduced to half its thickness by a recess made to allow of the passageA of the toe of the hammer m. In this recess and near the point of the trigger is the vibrating stud p, which is a short steel rod or stud with a rounded projecting point and at head inserted in a cylindrical bore in the trigger. 1t is kept in its place in the trigger by the finev spring r, inserted in a groove in the trigger, (shown in Fig. 3,) the head of the stud preventing its being forced out of the trigger by the spring 1'. This stud is iitted nicely into its hole, so that, whileitvibrates back and forth .when pressed inthe direction 'of its axis, it remains firm when the projecting side of the stud presses against the toe of the hammer. The shoulder q serves as the bearing-point of the spring-lever t, which transmits to the trigger -the force of the spring a, the spring-lever resting on a friction-roller,fv, in the shoulder. The spring-lever t and spring u form a double spring, which is very useful where a strong spring is required and where a good deal of play is also l necessary, being more efficient and less liable to get out of order. The arrangement is as follows: The spring-lever' t is placed with its point resting on the friction-roll in the shoulder ofthe trigger, and the other extremity,

which has a circular hole through it, slipped over a pin, w, (see Fig. 5,) in the base of the lock-plate. This spring-lever is not screwed or otherwise fastened down, but is kcptin place by the point of the strong spring u, the base of which is fastened t-o the under side of the lockplate (see Fig. 5) by a screw, s', which screws into a small hole, fr.

In Fig. l the relative position of the hammer and trigger before firing and the position of the vibrating stud p are clearly shown. The base of the hammer, near its toc, rests on the side of the vibrating stud 1J. The relative positions of the center-pins a and a2 areso adjusted that when the trigger is drawn back the stud p, pressing on the broad base of the toe of the hammer, raises it up, the hammer as it rises'pressing down the Inainspringf. As the hammer rises, the turning-point a' being stationary, the point a3, being the center ofthe friction-wheel at the heel of the hammer which sustains the whole pressure ofthe mainspring f, gradually' descends until the trigger is drawn back so far as to raise the hammer to the point of full-cock, shown in Fig. 2, when the center a is almost immediately under the center a', thus gradually reducing the eiective strength of the mainspring f, so that the force required to raise the hammer gradually diminishes as the hammer rises, instead of increasing, as is ordinarily the case in locks of tirearms, and at the point of full-cock attained in Fig. 2 a very slight touch on the trigger is enough to tire the pistol, the mainspring j gaining strength 0r leverage as the hammer falls and exerting its greatest force when the hammer strikes the percussion-cap ou the nipple of the rotating breech. When the vibrating stud p has raised the hammer and is drawn a very little farther back than represented in Fig. 2 it slips into a notch near the toe of the .hammer (seen in Fig. 3 immediatelyin front' ofthe vibrating stud) with a slight click, causing al sensation which may be felt by the person using the pistol, and will thus stand at full-cock, although the notch is very slight, because the effective force of the mainspring on thc toe of the hammer at that point is very small. If the trigger is now drawn a little farther back to the position shown in Fig. 3, the vibrating stud q will pass out of the notch and over the extremity of theltoe of the hammer, thus libera-ting the hammer, which immediately descends and fires the pistol. So soon as the pressure of the persons finger is removed from the trigger after flring the trigger recedes, the vibrating stud sliding up the chamfered edge of the hammer until it comes to the position shown in Fig. 3, where the vibrating stud comes to the point on the hammer marked .fr in Fig. 6, when the point of the stud slips over the thin edge of the hammer and down over its side, the spring 1' allowing the stud to recede as the thickness of the hainmer increases until it reaches the base of the hammer, when the stud slips off its cdgc and the locking-bolt j has a flat surface.

the trigger resumes its place, as shown in Fig. 1, with the edge of the stud lying under the toe of the hammer, ready for repeated action.

When the pistol has been tired and the trigger and other parts have resumed their first position it is necessary that before tiring again the rotating breech should be turned sp far round as to bring the next loaded chamber in aline with the barrel.' This is accomplished during the pulling ofthe trigger for the second tire by means of the ngerlc, which is connected with the trigger by a pin projecting from its side at the lower extremity, which enters into a corresponding circular hole in the side of the trigger between Athe vibrating stud and thecenter-pin a2. The finger k lies in the recess g/ in the side ot' the lock-plate. (See Fig. 3.) Thisrecess opensinto the circular recess around the base of the spindle e, in which the neck of the rotating breech is inserted. The spring c at the back of the finger k presses against the wall of the recess and presses the finger forward. When the trigger is not drawn back, as in Fig. 1, the finger k does not come in con tact with the ratchets; but as itis drawnl back it raises the lin ger k until it enters the circular recess in which the ratchets t i are situate, and, pressing against one of them, turns the rotating breech just far enough to bring another loaded chamber exactly on the line with the barrel, in which position it is retained, as hereinafter explained, until the/pistol is red and the trigger is again drawn back to repeat re. `By the falling of the trigger after firing the nger k is withdrawn and resumes its tirst position.

Thelocking-boltj, the shape of which is more clearly shown in Fig. 8, is designed to lock the rotating chambered breech in its proper position at the momentof flring, leaving it at all other times free to be rotated by the finger 7c or by hand at pleasure. 1n Fig. et this locking-boltj is shown in place in a recess in the side of the lock-plate made for its reception. The spring c2, which fits into a notch in the wall of the recess, presses against the leg of the locking-bolt and presses the head o of the bolt through an opening, e', (see Fig. 5,) into the circular recess around the spindle e. The bolt j is supported and turns on the center-pin a4. It will be seen by Fig. 8 that the head of This surface rests against one ot' the sides of the hexagonal part Z of the neck of the rotating chambered breech, which enters the recess around the spindle e. v (See Fig. 2.) Now, the neck Z of' the rotating chambered breech having as many sides as there are chambers in the breech,

whenever the breech is turned round by hand or otherwise the flat head of the boltj, pressing (by means of the spring c2) on the hexagonal neck b, causes the breech always to rest in such a position that one of the chambers is in exact line with the barrel, and the spring c2 is strong enough to prevent the breech turning round accidentally and yet permitit -to be rotated freely when desired. When the trigger is drawn back to the point of full-cock, or nearly so, as in Fig. 2, a hump or cam-shoulder, g', on the top of the trigger comes in contact with the under side ef the head o' of the locking-bolt, as in Fig. 2, and presses the face4 of the head of the bolt firmly against one of the flat sides of the hexagonal neck ot' the rotating breech, thus preventing the possibility of the rotation of the'breech during the tiring and until the trigger is released. This arrangement is peculiarly convenient, as it enables a person in loading the breech to rotate it freely Without touching the trigger, whereas in revolving rearms as ordinarily constructed the trigger has to be pulled part way back and held in that position before the breech can be turned.

The advantage of my improved pistol over all other similar tire-arms with which I am acquainted are the great simplicity of construction, which renders them much less liable to get out ot' repair and miss fire, the great ease and rapidity with which they may be red, and the fact that they can be made to stand cocked with great ease and by merely pulling t-he trigger, or may be fired immediately without standing cocked, at pleasure.

Having thus described my improvements in rotating-breech lire-arms, what claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1,. The use of a stud in the trigger vibrating laterally, in combination with a bevel-edged hammer with a notch at its toe, by means ot' which, by simply pulling the trigger, the hainmer is raised, and may be either allowed to stand at full-cock or tired at pleasure, while the trigger, after tiring, will regain its position for repeated action.

2. The use of a double spring or spring and lever, for the purpose hereinbet'ore set forth.

3. The mode hereinbetore described of locking the rotating breech at the moment ot' tiring by means of the locking-bolt, in combination with the cam shoulder on the trigger and the hexagonal neck of the rotating breech, which nevertheless permit the breech to be fully rotated by handor otherwise when the trigger is not drawn back.

Witness my hand this 16th day of June, A. D. 1854.

JOSIAH ELLS. Witnesses:

ORRIN NEWTON,

J oHN F. PERRY. 

